When we created the GeoCoder plugin for Geomajas we faced that same
problem. The google geocoder has a few drawbacks that makes it unsuitable.
In the end we used the Yahoo service together with the Geonames service,
with pretty good results.
Hope that helps.
On 02/04/2011 02:34 PM, JP Glutting wrote:
Hello,
I have a large set of addresses (around 150k) that I need to geocode
for a study (my Masters thesis on heat-related mortality). I am
looking into different solutions, but I can't find anything that seems
like it would work properly.
I could script a solution using Google's map API, but there is a limit
of 2,500 addreses per day (I can get around them with a little patience).
Right now the best solution I am looking at geopy for geocoding
addresses (http://code.google.com/p/geopy/). It seems like a good
system, I think I can use it to pull addresses out of my database and
write back coordinates. There is one thing that I am not sure, about,
though, is whether I am actually allowed to use the Google API without
my use being liked to a specific web page. The terms of service and
form for getting a Google API key require a URL linked to a Google
account. In fact, it looks like the API can only be used through a web
site:
"5.2 _Account Key_. After supplying Google with your account
information and the URL of your Maps API Implementation, and
accepting the Terms, you will be issued an alphanumeric key
assigned to you by Google that is uniquely associated with your
Google Account and the URL of your Maps API Implementation. Your
Maps API Implementation must import the Google Maps APIs using
this key as described in the Maps APIs Documentation
<http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/>, and Google will
block requests with an invalid key or invalid URL. You may only
obtain and use a key in accordance with these Terms and the Maps
APIs Documentation <http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/>."
So it looks like I can't even get it to work without a URL.
I can always write a script that loops through results extracted from
the database, creates URLs and parses the XML results one at a time,
but that seems like a fairly inelegant solution.
Does anyone have any good ideas about how to geocode a few thousand
addresses?
Many thanks,
JP
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Pieter De Graef
Community Manager
GeoSparc nv.
http://www.geosparc.com/
Chairman of the Geomajas project
http://www.geomajas.org/
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